DD's Sarong Cradle

I've been having a bit of difficulty putting DD down for her nap in the past few weeks. Usually the process gets interrupted (e.g. she needs to pee or poop, or she gets distracted by her brother) and even though she's really sleepy, she just refuses to be put to nap by the one of our "usual" methods - either nursing to sleep or falling asleep in a baby carrier. We considered the traditional sarong cradle (yao lan) but to our surprise, this isn't as easily available in Taiwan as we thought it would be. After asking friends and shopkeepers, both young and old, we realised that, firstly, the sarong cradle made out of cloth, like what we use in Singapore, is probably native to Singapore or Malaysia, and not commonly used in other parts of Asia like what we thought it would be. Secondly, the traditional Taiwanese version of the sarong cradle is similar to the sarong in that it hangs from the ceiling or a stand, but unlike the sarong, which is made of solely cloth fabric, the Taiwanese version is made of rattan or wicker so it becomes a "basket" in which to place baby onto. It is then called a 吊床 (hanyu pinyin: Diao4 Chuang2) rather than a 搖籃 (hanyu pinyin: Yao2 Lan2). Even then, the Diao4 Chuang2 is hardly used in urban Taipei anymore. When we enquired in speciality baby shops here in Taiwan, we were shown modern baby rockers which are basically bassinets or reclining baby chairs which can rock from side-to-side or back-and-fro.

Encouraged by my mother-in-law, who thinks that DD, at a ripe old age of 9 months old, could still be coaxed to be placed in a sarong cradle to sleep, we decided to take the plunge. My sister-in-law (SIL) kindly bought a sarong cradle for us in Singapore and my dad kindly agreed to bring it over with him when he came to Taiwan for a visit. DH and I decided that we have nothing to lose except the price of the sarong cradle (which SIL eventually gave to us, thanks!) and the efforts of SIL and dad in buying and bringing the item to us in Taiwan. Our other option was to buy the Westernized and "good-looking" version of the sarong cradle online (e.g. Amby Baby) and have it shipped to Taiwan but this was going to cost us a fortune. We were really not willing to spend so much money on something that we weren't sure was going to work.

Well, unbelieveably, DD took to the sarong cradle pretty well and she now naps in it about once a day. I was able to put her down for a nap during those times when she would otherwise not have napped.



Interestingly, DD likes to sleep with her feet out of the sarong and I'll have to place them inside the sarong after she falls asleep. However, good as the sarong cradle is at putting babies to sleep, it has its limitations, as with everything else. Firstly, even if we had wanted to use the sarong cradle earlier on, we couldn't because DD had reflux. She was a spitter and would spit out milk with the slightest movement, especially if she was lying down. It would be safer to put a baby with reflux side-lying on a bed to sleep, since side-lying reduces the reflux and any spit up would come out of baby's mouth more easily and be obvious to the caregiver rather than on a baby who was lying on her back in a sarong. Secondly, the risk of falls when using a sarong cradle should not be overlooked. See the safety warnings from KKH about sarong cradles here and a local study done a number of years back looking at closed head injuries in children who fell from sarong cradles here. But for now, the sarong works well for us. We just place a mattress under DD when she's in the sarong cradle, in the unlikely even that she falls.